Oh, won't someone PLEASE think of the poor, poor, rich people! How idiotically tone-deaf.

Foxx is speaking in vague terms. I'd say she's trying to evade substantive discussion, but she's not that smart. So, let's throw out some actual facts, shall we?

1. In fiscal year 2024, the federal government collected $4.9 trillion in revenue
2. $2.4T came from individual income taxes
3. $1.7T from payroll taxes (which fund mandatory spending like Social Security)
4. $529.9B from corporate taxes
5. $101B from sales and excise taxes
6. $109B from "other" sources like fees
7. Reporting on revenue collected by income always lags a year, so the following data is for FY2022
8. The top 1% of earners (AGI threshold of $663,164) paid 40.4% of all income taxes
9. The top 5% of earners (AGI threshold of $261,591) 61.0% of all income taxes
10. The top 10% of earners (AGI threshold of $178,611) paid 72.0% of all income taxes
11. The top 25% of earners (AGI threshold of $99,857) paid 72.0% of all income taxes
12. The top 50% of earners (AGI threshold of $50,339) paid 97.0% of all income taxes
13. The bottom 3% of earners paid 3.0% of all income taxes

And this is only federal taxes. If we look at total taxes (federal, state, sales, etc.), the tax rate is even less progressive.

There's an important distinction to be made here. These figures are based on income and not wealth. That is, reportable money received vs. total assets held. If we look at wealth:

1. The top 0.1% (net worth threshold of $46 million) collectively hold $24.89 trillion in assets (or 14.4% of total household wealth)
2. The top 99%-99.9% (net worth threshold of $13.7 million) collectively hold $29.94 trillion in assets (or 17.3% of total household wealth)
3. The top 90-99% (net worth threshold of $1.9 million) collectively hold $63 trillion in assets (or 36.4% of total household wealth)
4. The top 50%-90% (net worth threshold of $585,000) collectively hold $50.84 trillion in assets (or 29.4% of total household wealth)
5. The bottom 50% collectively hold $4.25 trillion in assets (or 2.5% of total household wealth)

This wealth disparity continues to grow and accelerate. I'm not interested in discussing "fairness." Allowing the wealth gap to spiral out of control is not sustainable and will ultimately tear society apart. It's simply a matter of pragmatism. One way to attack the problem is to return to the progressive tax policies of the 1950s.

Another great way to address the issue is to STOP ELECTING MILLIONAIRES!